Over the past several decades the number of fishing lure configurations available on the market has only been exceeded by the number of persons having an interst, and taking active part, in the sport of fishing.
Fishing lure configurations may be categorized according to the manner in which they are to be fished--i.e.: they may be cast and retrieved (either along the surface of the water or beneath the surface of the water); they may be jigged, trolled, floated or remain suspended at a predetermined depth.
To expand upon the foregoing summarization, a lure may be designed to be cast, allowing its weight to draw out the line as the momentum of the lure carries it the desired distance. The lure may then be retrieved on the surface of the water. Such a lure may incorporate means to generate noise in an effort to attract game fish. On the other hand, such a lure may be configured to be retrieved beneath the surface of the water, and it may still incorporate means to generate noise. It should be appreciated that the configuration itself may serve not only to generate a desired sound but also to impart a specific movement, or action, to the lure as it moves through, or on, the water in order to attract game fish.
Other configurations permit the lure to be jigged; that is, the lure attracts game fish as it is pulled toward the surface and then allowed to drop to a greater or lesser depth. When fished in this way, the shape of the lure may cause it to wiggle, or flutter, in a manner deemed attractive to game fish. Generally, a casting type lure intended to be retrieved on the surface of the water cannot be used effectively as a jigging lure or vice versa. Nevertheless, any, or all, of the foregoing lure configurations may be enhanced by coloration.
Fishing lure configurations may also be categorized according to the type of equipment with which they will be used. For example, users of bait-casting, spin-casting or purely spinning type equipment will generally employ lures of a sufficient weight to facilitate withdrawal of the line during the cast. These same lures would not be appropriate to a person using fly-rod equipment. The fly-fisherman will choose "flies," or light weight lures, specifically designed for that type of fishing. Such lures are much lighter inasmuch as their presentation is accomplished by the distribution of the weight of the line along its length and not by the weight of the lure.
From the foregoing discussion, it will be appreciated that not every lure will be all things to all fishermen. For that reason a particular lure may be extensively used and accepted by one group of fishermen but not be used or accepted by another group.
One particular style of lure, or lure accouterment, however, has gained wide acceptance and has been effectively used with virtually all styles of fishing. This lure style may be used alone or may be attached as a "trailer" to many of the different types of lures heretofore mentioned. This lure style produces an action that has been found to be particularly attractive to game fish. The original embodiment of this lure style was comprised of pork rind which had to be kept in a jar of preservative until ready for use and had to be returned to the fluid-filled jar almost immediately after it had been used. Otherwise, the pork rind would loose the supple flexibility that imparted the unique action for which the pork rind was noted. Once that supple flexibility was lost it could not be regained. Even with the obvious inconveniences inherent to the use of pork rind, the benefits derived by its usage are sufficient that fishermen endure the annoyances.
Pork rind may be secured to a bare hook, or it may be secured to the hook that is attached to a lure. In either situation the pork rind is allowed to trail behind the lure as it is retrieved, jigged, or even trolled behind a boat. Pork rind is also available in a wide variety of sizes, as well as in numerous shapes which resemble various aquatic life forms upon which game fish are known to feed. For example, some pork rind is configured in shapes to imitate a frog while others are configured to imitate crayfish, grubs, or even eels. While pork rind has been accepted, and successfully used, by various groups of fishermen for many years, pork rind suffers from the aforementioned disadvantage that it must be stored in a suitable fluid when not in use. This is required because pork rind, when dried, becomes stiff and hardens to such an extent that it is extremely difficult to remove from a barbed hook after it has hardened. Moreover, hardened pork rind will not return to its useful, pliable condition once it is allowed to dry, and in such condition it becomes useless and must be discarded.
To eliminate the inherent problems with pork rind manufacturers have simulated that material with various synthetic substitutes and/or leather which has been chemically treated so that it will retain, and/or regain, its original pliability and softness, even after it has dried. Exemplary of these pork rind substitutes are those offered by Berkley under the trademark Strike Rind and by The Fred Arbogast Company under the trademark Dri Rind. In fact, a pork rind substitute is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,568 which is owned by The Fred Arbogast Company. The last mentioned pork rind substitute is comprised of a chemically treated sheepskin which may be easily formed into an appropriate shape not only to facilitate mounting the resulting pork rind substitute on the shank of a hook but also to present the desired configuration to the game fish. All of these prior known pork rind substitutes exhibit a relatively thin cross-section of material and may be cut into the many shapes and sizes preferred by fishermen.